With the continued popularity of the Dungeon Finder, many players have been asking for a way to group up with real-life friends who play on other realms to take on instances together. Today, we wanted to give you a heads up about a new feature currently in development that will allow players to invite Real ID friends of the same faction to a party regardless of the realm they play on, and then queue up for a 5-player regular or Heroic dungeon.

As this is a fairly complex service to develop, we don’t have a release date to share quite yet. It’s important to note that as with some of the other convenience- and connectivity-oriented features we offer, certain elements of the cross-realm Real ID party system will be premium-based, though only the player sending the invitations will need to have access to the premium service. We'll have more details to share with you as development progresses -- in the meantime, you may begin to see elements of the feature appear on the World of Warcraft PTR.

Charging extra for a service that would finally remove the limitations of what server you choose... What a bunch of greedy losers. I am quite glad that I let my account expire, because now I know the one feature that would make heroics bearable would force me to dish out even more money I don't want to spend on this declining game.

Not sure why people are getting mad, you DON'T have to use this. You could just level a toon on your friends realm, or they could do the same thing. It's really not that hard. If you really want to play with friends, level a toon or xfer one of your toons. "Herpdy Derp, i have a life and can't do that" 95% of everyone who plays wow spends more than half their time in trade doing nothing, trust me, i do it too. As long as they don't increase the monthly fee, i don't care what they do.

Premium teir gear - I don't know why people are getting mad, you DON'T have to buy this. You could just raid on a toon. It's really not that hard. If you really want teir gear, work for it. 'herpdy derp, i have a life and can't do that' 95% of everyone who plays wow spends more than half their tme in trade doing nothing, trust me, i do it too. as long as they don't increase the monthly fee, i don't care what they do.

Doesn't sound so fucking herpyderpy now, does it?

It's the IDEA behind it, not the thing itself. This is what people said it would lead into. Now, it's not 'just' checking the AH or 'just' chatting with guild friends. It's an in-game mechanic that certain people get to use that others don't, specifically, people who pay vs people who don't. And that's past a slippery slope, that's what was predicted before and what we were supposedly told wouldn't happen.

Charging extra for a service that would finally remove the limitations of what server you choose... What a bunch of greedy losers. I am quite glad that I let my account expire, because now I know the one feature that would make heroics bearable would force me to dish out even more money I don't want to spend on this declining game.

OC they're gonna charge for it the biggest reason people pay to xfer realms is so they can play with their friends so that would cause a drop in revenue from the service, more work for less money=bad business decision.

Telling somebody that they have entitlement issues is pretty solid, really. That's all there is to it.

Up until this point, and past this point, Blizzard has not implemented any paid services that impact gameplay in -ANY- form. 98% of every post in this thread is irrational and "WAA I WANT THIS GIVE IT TO ME I PAY YOU $15 A MONTH".

There's not much more to argue. If you don't want to pay for it, don't pay for it. Your day to day life won't suffer for it. If you want to play with your friends so badly, reroll alts, server transfer(lolpremiumservices), do whatever it is you want to do. Blizzard is simply adding another option for players to interact with their friends in a way that they otherwise wouldn't have.

What's that? You can run a 5 man with your friends on another server? This obviously means that there will be paid only raids and paid only gear and OBVIOUSLY Blizzard is going to turn this into a PREMIUM ACCOUNT DOMINATES ALL type game.

People have been shouting end of the world and slippery slope since forever, and people are just hopping onto the bandwagon here.

Over a cross realm thing that in all likely hood will be changed down the road? Okay.

It's not the only reason though. I just see where it's going and planning to move to other games. Been playing since the start of BC, but the way the game evolved just do not match my expectation for a mmo with sub. I loved it back then and wotlk was awesome up to Ulduar. Other games out there are just much better for me (not talking about mmos though) =).

Premium teir gear - I don't know why people are getting mad, you DON'T have to buy this. You could just raid on a toon. It's really not that hard. If you really want teir gear, work for it. 'herpdy derp, i have a life and can't do that' 95% of everyone who plays wow spends more than half their tme in trade doing nothing, trust me, i do it too. as long as they don't increase the monthly fee, i don't care what they do.

Doesn't sound so fucking herpyderpy now, does it?

It's the IDEA behind it, not the thing itself. This is what people said it would lead into. Now, it's not 'just' checking the AH or 'just' chatting with guild friends. It's an in-game mechanic that certain people get to use that others don't, specifically, people who pay vs people who don't. And that's past a slippery slope, that's what was predicted before and what we were supposedly told wouldn't happen.

But how does this service give you any advantage what so ever over another player?

Besides, 99.99% of the people I know who play this game, play on the same server and faction as their Real ID friends. And if they did not start out that way, they have since rerolled or transferred to be on the same server. I have a feeling that this service will by used by a very small part of the player base. Even if it was given for free I do not see it getting alot of use. And also, they already do have raids/dungeons/gear/content that only players that pay extra can access. They are called expansions.

It's not the only reason though. I just see where it's going and planning to move to other games. Been playing since the start of BC, but the way the game evolved just do not match my expectation for a mmo with sub. I loved it back then and wotlk was awesome up to Ulduar. Other games out there are just much better for me (not talking about mmos though) =).

Do you really see where this is going? Can you see the future? Really? Seriously? I didn't know people could do that.

If you're not having fun with WoW, that's one thing, but pretending that WoW is going downhill because of paid services that do nothing to impact the game is just outrageous.

Actually it is more like paying for admission to an amusement park and then once you are already in, they offer you a premium pass that lets you jump to the front of the line for all the rides. You don't have to buy it to enjoy the rides, it is just an added service to make it easier to enjoy the rides.

BTW, many amusement parks so have a service just like this.

Yes and I have used these services. I happen to live in Florida, and Walt Disney World has the "fast pass" service.

This service is free.

And we could get into many more arguments and loose examples based on amusement parks. The point remains that this is a fairly silly service. I think a main problem is the fact that it probably does cost Blizzard next to nothing to implement, since most of the infrastructure seems to already be there. So even if only one person used it, they would have earned revenue.

Premium player ask for a member from his battle.net to join his group.
-- Hey Blizzard, I'm a Premium. Please call my friend Fulanus from Random realm, I want you to make a cross server group including me and him.
*blizzard server makes a random group*
*blizzard server calls upon the desired player on the desired realm -- using much of the already existing "you've been called for a group" and "your dungeon is ready" system*
*blizzard server defines the premium player as the group guide*
*blizzard stops searching for random players and let the group guide decide on who'll join*

Doesn't matter how complex it is, why should we have to pay extra money to play with some friends occasionally when they are on another server....

ALSO, new premium feature!

Want a bigger backpack?! Well now you can upgrade to the premium player's backpack for only $5 a month!

Stupid comparison.
Rather compare it to charging players for extra character slots. Because other MMOs do that. Where in WoW you get 50 player slots without any additonal payment in other MMOs you get... one (!) and any additional slot costs like 1 buck extra (every month!)
Nobody ever mentions the good stuff about WoW.

Stupid comparison.
Rather compare it to charging players for extra character slots. Because other MMOs do that. Where in WoW you get 50 player slots without any additonal payment in other MMOs you get... one (!) and any additional slot costs like 1 buck extra (every month!)Nobody ever mentions the good stuff about WoW.

Thats because WoW players are spoiled. Blizzard didn't have to offer this service at all. It they would have never mentioned it, no one would be the wiser. But now that they have started to work on this service, all these people act like they will not ever be able to play WoW again without it.

If you don't like that Blizzard is charging for it you have two options really. 1. Quit WoW completely and put in the reason for leaving space that you are unhappy with the added pay services. or 2. Just don't pay for the service and keep on playing exactly the same as you are now.

Stupid comparison.
Rather compare it to charging players for extra character slots. Because other MMOs do that. Where in WoW you get 50 player slots without any additonal payment in other MMOs you get... one (!) and any additional slot costs like 1 buck extra (every month!)
Nobody ever mentions the good stuff about WoW.

Rift: 6 character slots per server
LOTRO: 2 character slots per server (free to play, no monthly cost to play LOTRO)
Aion: 8 character slots per account

What crappy MMO have you been playing that only gives you 1 character slot?

To be honest - why not?
Some people already make a second account and dual box for 300% xp.
The RaF feature should encourage playing together with a friend, but some people use it to play alone.
People who don't want to buy a second account are at a disadvantage.
Why not offer it as a premium service?
Premium services can be a good thing - it all depends on what they are offering and how much it costs.

Originally Posted by bloodwine77

Rift: 6 character slots per server
LOTRO: 2 character slots per server (free to play, no monthly cost to play LOTRO)
Aion: 8 character slots per account

What crappy MMO have you been playing that only gives you 1 character slot?

Final Fantasy

btw 2 character slots per server or 8 character slots per account is still very little compared to 50.

I'd rather Blizzard to focus on getting the game better, less bugs after PTR builds testing and more GM to help players iG. There are still improvment to be done in the actual game before thinking of adding a new paying feature that only a few percent of player will be happy paying additionnal charge for.

That's no the way they'll get back their 600.000 lost customers I think...